Whitman news since 1896

Whitman Wire

Vol. CLIV, Issue 6
Whitman news since 1896

Whitman Wire

Whitman news since 1896

Whitman Wire

‘Daughter of Smoke and Bone’ offers fresh fodder for fantasy enthusiasts

Illustration: Julie Peterson

by Karin Tompkins

With the recent surge in popularity of young adult fantasy novels, it’s often difficult to find a story that breaks from the predictable. Too many novels rely on certain plot devices as though they were crutches. More often than not, one picks up a fantasy novel only to discover that its storyline is a recycled, slightly tweaked version of Twilight. Fantasy enthusiasts, take heart: With her new novel “Daughter of Smoke and Bone,” Laini Taylor proves that originality has not been completely extinguished. Taylor excels at creating a beautiful, magical realm similar to the mundane world we know, yet exotic and sometimes dangerous: a place where a blue-haired art student works on the side as a courier of sinister goods and receives payment in wishes instead of money, angel sightings make the news and a doorway in an alleyway in Prague opens into another world. In this world, ordinary people can attain the power of flight simply by wishing for it: that is, if they’re willing to pay the price.

The novel follows Karou, the aforementioned art student, a young woman who is so mysterious not even she knows the details of her peculiar past. Raised by chimaeras, creatures whose body parts are a patchwork of human and animal limbs, Karou is a girl caught between two worlds. Her human friends don’t realize that the fantastical drawings of monsters in her sketchbook are portraits of her adopted family, and her chimaera kin beg to see her illustrations of the day-to-day doings of mortals. Karou’s life consists of taking classes, using her wish wages to commit minor mischief, and hanging out with friends until she’s paged by her adopted father to fly off to a distant country and traffic in human teeth. On one of these errands, she meets an angel named Akiva, and the secrets about Karou’s identity and origins begin to unravel in a glorious yarn of forbidden love, envy and treason.

Illustration: Julie Peterson

The novel is compelling and addictive; readers should make sure that they have a minimum of other commitments before beginning this book. Taylor’s imagination and attention to detail in the construction of Karou’s world are by far the strongest aspects of the novel, but there are a few snags in her creation. First of all, Karou and Akiva are such perfect protagonists that it is sometimes a bit difficult to identify with them. Both are described as impossibly physically attractive, with magical might (and in Karou’s case, incredible artistic talent). This makes it seem like the fantasy realm Taylor has created is for exclusively extraordinary people, when the truly captivating characteristic of fantasy lies in the reader’s ability to imagine him or herself in the magical world. However, Taylor deserves to be praised for making Karou a powerful and independent character in a genre in which passive female characters are a common pitfall. She also attempts to give her characters little doses of humanity (Karou spends her wishes eradicating acne, Akiva has daddy issues).

Secondly, the novel winds down sluggishly and is not as fast-paced or exciting towards the end as it is in the beginning. This is a problem, as the climactic scene occurs toward the end, as do a lot of revelations about Karou’s self-identity, which is the focus of the story. The end itself is very abrupt and unsatisfying, but this mostly has to do with Taylor’s need to arouse interest in the book’s sequel, the release date of which Taylor has yet to announce.

Despite these minor flaws, the book is a gorgeous read and should not be ignored by devotees of the fantasy genre. “Daughter of Smoke and Bone” and its sequels could easily become the new fantasy craze to take up the mantle of “The Hunger Games” now that Suzanne Collins’ trilogy has come to a close. Anyone who is looking for a decadent fantasy story or who needs an escape from the monotonous routine of the ordinary world should definitely give this book a try.

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